At what age do you all picture teaching your children about anal sex and the importance of lube if they choose to engage in anal sex? Oral sex? The safe use of sex toys and how they need to be washed properly to prevent the spread of STIs? At what age do you picture yourself having these discussions with your children, if ever?

It depends. Not less than 12, but definitely before 15.

I was the youngest in a house full of males. By the time I was 15 I had 3 brothers in the Navy, coming home on leave, bringing lots of women and parties in the house, and had already drawn the attention of a lot of older girls and women. My dad gave me the talk pretty early on, and found out a lot on my own anyways.

The heteronormative and what ever else will just require some feeling out at that point. He’s 6 now, and its hard to tell what the wind will be blowing in another 6 to 9 years.

I pretty much don’t care what the schools teach because I’m pretty confident in the weight of my influence. I’ll most likely tell him to just learn it to pass the tests and disregard the garbage if there is any.

I think its actually a bit shameful if parents leave the education of their children entirely in the hands of strangers, regardless of political slant. If you don’t teach them what you feel is important, you can’t blame them or the educators for taking up the slack.

Hey, I appreciate all of your frank responses to my questions. Sorry to be blunt, but this is the reality. CA has certain requirements of what must be included now, but there is some variation in curriculum adopted by local school boards. Parents can opt their kids out of Sex Ed entirely, which is my inclination when this comes up next year, but I’m planning to request to see all course materials and then decide.

I don’t think most people realized that the kids would be exposed to roleplay and hypothetical situations involving same sex couples. It is now the law that all of these things show same sex couples, as well as hetero couples. For example, in teaching kids to learn how to resist peer pressure, “Mike wants Steve to give him oral sex, and Steve isn’t ready yet. What should he say to Mike.” Insert Anne and Karen but with a sex toy. Kids divide up and roleplay, or discuss these hypotheticals. Or, in teaching sensitivity to how TG people feel, having high school kids imagine what it would be like to want their genitals removed. Recognize their heterosexual privilege if they don’t have this worry.

SkyzykS:

My dad gave me the talk pretty early on, and found out a lot on my own anyways.

Well, I feel like I’ve done this right. @ “THE TALK.” At my house, it’s been a series of many talks over the years as they’ve matured and asked questions. I could tell some very poignant, sweet stories about my kids talking to me about sensitive things, but I’ll be respectful of their privacy.

SkyzykS:

I think its actually a bit shameful if parents leave the education of their children entirely in the hands of strangers, regardless of political slant. If you don’t teach them what you feel is important, you can’t blame them or the educators for taking up the slack.

Agree. I have a friend who told me her parents opted out of sex ed at school, but then didn’t really teach it at home either. That’s not the case in my house, but I think very few of the people here (if any) have had some of the discussions with their young teens that I think are going to happen at my kid’s school. I find that pretty problematic.

Let me add, my kids have gay and lesbian friends who are welcome in my house. I’ve been lucky that my kids have nice friends. They are already very sensitive to being kind, but we do have some religious values related to sexuality and gender that are in disagreement with the values being taught in CA schools as part of the Ca Healthy Youth Act.

If anyone is curious. This gives you and idea of the things that are now required in Sex Ed here. As parents, you can request the curriculum beforehand.

@ Opting out. I have no choice in having my kids exposed to identity politics terminology at school, so it’s intergrated in other places outside of the Sex Ed part of the Health class. Terms like white privilege are now part of anti-bullying lessons in CA, and the gender, diversity and inclusion lessons now start in K.

This is a very right-wing website, but you get an idea of some of the suggested lesson plans developed for this. Those examples are in use in some schools in the Bay area and elsewhere, but I’m not sure what’s been adopted in my part of the state.RedState – 18 Apr 18

I was going to add, I had no issue with the 5th grade curriculum, which is mostly about physical maturity and using deodorant. Our school held a Mother Daughter Tea, and a Father Son night. They made it clear that any adult role model could come, but they did divide the 5th grade information by gender. Mothers (or an aunt or female family friend) takes their daughter and they talk about periods, training bras, deodorant, etc…

I believe this will change now because they no longer want kids divided by gender for anything. That’s specifically spelled out.

I did not go look at the curriculum in 7th grade, but I should have, just to be aware and be able to talk about any differences at home, clarify or add my religious perspective.

I have other friends who are planning to opt out of the high school part, who previous to these changes had never considered opting out of Sex Ed in the public schools.

This is why American students are falling behind the rest of the world. Schools are not supposed to be battlegrounds for social issues. If I were given the choice between adding a sex ed class to the curriculum or a philosophy class, I would choose philosophy.

Yes. She will have to take gym her senior year as you don’t need 4 years of it. I don’t know how many parents know that and if they did, how many would want their kid to do the minimum gym requirement in order to add “real” classes.

I think it was @usmccds423, who pointed out that cultural norms shift over time. I think we absolutely need to talk to our young teens about oral sex, because it’s very common in youths now. Probably more so than a generation or two ago. @ The prevalence of some other practices, anal sex, I was curious. I had read that we have some cohorts of adolescent girls who are engaging in it because they feel it’s “safer since they can’t get pregnant.” I’m sure some of the people like PP and the organizations that develop these curriculums are motivated by bringing them “up to date” in our new post porn world.

Here you go. It’s giving me problems with formatting. Stats are in the Abstract.
National Health Statistics Report from 2016.

In case you remember the Thad Russel stats from the Rogan podcast. He’s WILDLY over estimating the incidence of men engaging in gay relationships. No surprise. I’ve looked at his Twitter. He delights in offending or shocking prudes like me.